Driving across the country the past two days listening to talk radio, both conservative and liberal, leaves this writer confused, angry, puzzled, frustrated and frightened about the upcoming presidential election, now less than 40 days away.

The consequences of this election could be enormous, either for good or bad, depending on who wins.

The big news of the past two days, or at least the topic that commanded the most air time, is the murder of the American ambassador in Libya along with the other Americans, two current or former members of the U.S. Navy Seals and another individual trying to protect the ambassador.

Both conservative and liberal commentators and reporters agree President Obama and his top aides and spokespeople have either lied to or misled the American public about the attack, which killed the four Americans at the U.S. embassy. For days, Obama, his White House spokesman, his United Nations ambassador and his other aides continued to claim this was not an organized terrorist attack by those who hate America, but rather a spontaneous event resulting from anger over a video produced here in America.

It is frightening to see a president not shooting straight with the nation and, apparently, a large percentage of the public saying it is OK or that it isn’t that important.

If he can lie or mislead people about the killing, doesn’t this send a message that he can, perhaps has, lied about other critical situations? What could the country expect if he is re-elected?

Other topics covered by reporters included reports of various polls of probable voters and polls of the general citizenry.

Most of the polls reportedly showed a widening gap between Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney, particularly in the so-called toss-up states that have sizable electoral votes. In these swing states, Obama is said to be pulling away from Romney due primarily to two factors: the so-called “Clinton bump” and Romney’s less-than-exciting campaign effort.

The Clinton bump, or stimulus, is what these political observers and commentators claim the Obama campaign received from Clinton’s speech at the recent Democratic National Convention.

The former president claimed Obama had inherited a terrible situation when he moved into the White House, that he has tried harder than any other president to improve and correct the situation, that no president has had more of an interest in the welfare of this country’s citizens, that he is a good man and that he needs and deserves four more years to get the job done. And the public, because Clinton has said this, believes these are the facts.

The message is: Things are better today than when Obama became president.

Others point out things are not better. In fact, by most every yardstick, things are worse. One commentator noted Obama, if he should win, would be facing worse conditions next year than he faced when he first moved into the White House.

Other concerns debated by the commentators include whether the media is terribly and openly biased in favor of Obama, why the FBI hasn’t been sent to Libya to get the facts about the killing of a U.S. ambassador, what message it sends to our enemies that the U.S. filmmaker who supposedly triggered the riots in the Middle East now is imprisoned, the damage done to this country’s image of strength and resolve, how the news can be and is manipulated, and, again and again, what message does it send to both Americans and those in other countries when the U.S. president lies or, being generous, tells half-truths?

Other concerns centered on Obama’s failure to measure up on many of his campaign promises such as transparency, building respect abroad, cutting unemployment numbers, reducing the national debt and not pitting one segment of our country against another.

It would be interesting to know what foreign visitors in this country would think about the upcoming election if they had spent two days listening to talk radio or listening to the TV sets in their motel rooms as they traveled across the country.

If it is confusing to Americans, what must it be like to foreigners who happen to be in the U.S. at this time or those living around the world?

Unfortunately, Uncle Sam does not enjoy the respect it once merited throughout the world. It is weaker in many respects. The U.S. citizenry is more divided today than it has been for decades. Our national debt has never been greater and our unemployed, under-employed and drop-out numbers are a disgrace.

Obama says he needs four more years, and yet, based on his record the past four years, there is little justification for optimism if he should be re-elected for another term.

Romney critics claim he is uninspiring, dull and almost dead.

He may not be the most exciting candidate and he certainly isn’t as eloquent as the president, but what’s important: making good speeches or getting the job done?

If the writer wants to be frightened, no, terrified, he should worry about the congress that brought our economy to its knees last year and will do so again this fall when they renig on the budget cutting agreement. Surely, the writer has read in financial news that business cannot add jobs until they know what the tax cuts and tax revenues will be for next year. Businesses have hunkered down, so have consumers. I challenge the writer to list bills where the GOP has compromised with the Democrats and Independents to actually make something happen. The party of NO is alive and well. We are approaching the 'fiscal cliff'. Now, that's scary.

The Attack on our embassy in Libya was terrible. All the armchair strategists seem to know how this tragedy could have been avoided and what to do next. Try these thoughts.

-The Middle East is complicated. There are different tribes, cultures, and religions. There is no simple solution.

When we encourage democracy in another country, that country is free to ally with the U.S. or against the U.S.

It does not make sense for the general public to demand sensitive information. There is no way any of us have the knowledge, skill, or ability to handle a situation like Libya or Syria. Look at what we've done in congress.

Armchair diplomacy and military strategy interfere with what needs to happen. We push to get information, and then turn around and scold the White House for releasing too much information. We do not know the circumstances of the events. We should give the Whitehouse time to assimilate the facts. I fault the media for all the armchair panic.

-One has to wonder if the turbulent countries don't manipulate us or use our campaigns as a propaganda tool.

Mr. Simons, Try to listen to less Rush Limbaugh.
Thanks to hear_me for the excellent response to your column. One would think that - if you are truly concerned about someone lying - you would mention Romney's record on that.

"In a memo released along with the ad, the Romney campaign says the change "undermines the very premise of welfare reform. It is an insult to Americans on welfare who are looking for an opportunity to build better lives for themselves. And it is a kick in the gut to the millions of hard-working middle-class taxpayers struggling in today’s economy, working more for less but always preferring self-sufficiency to a government handout."

Obama, it says, "hopes states will consider approaches that remove work participation rate requirements all together."

The HHS letter contains no such language. In several places, it says only proposals from states that "improve employment outcomes" will be considered."

This option has existed and used since 1996. I would post more, but my ipad does not have much of a buffer for copying text. See www.politifact.org. You will find all political ads researched. Some fault Obama. Have fun with that.

I am not frightened not nor confused. The recent events gave us a true read on how candidates either are experienced enough to deal with world events or are complete frauds.
The Libya event is old news , it has been judged and if you would like to continue to beat the Romney drum you only appear ill informed or delusional.

We are better than four years ago. Were stable ! Were moving slowly back up . You can't wave wand and solve an issue this deep. The congress has been entirely uncooperative by design. When congress votes no on a Vets jobs bill they have sunk to the bottom of the pond. Yet they have time to worry about womens contraception rights , abortion , and fake repeal AHCA votes.

Your fractured view of the country speaks more about your myopic selective bias than it does about the state of the country. Take a look at the polling. Your losing , your losing badly in the battleground. Oh you'll win in Kansas where stupidity is a staple.

The recent Republican mantra of fake morals , rich people , and constitutional chanting is being soundly rejected by the country. Too bad it will take another two years to get rid of a fair amount of congress so we can get something done in Washington.

It is rather funny what a basket case he evidently becomes when left to his own devices, without the benefit of his wife or any other tempering influences/sanity-support systems he's inadvertently accumulated.

Have you called home lately, Dolph? We think you left some of your medicine on the counter...

"It is frightening to see a president not shooting straight with the Nation and, apparently, a large percentage of the public saying it is OK or that it isn't that important." Where was this concern when W. was in office? Your concern, Dolph, is ironic and hypocritical to say the least. I smell fear, desperation and panic. Love your columns. Keep up the good work.

That would mean a cover up by the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and the supreme court. Are they all in his pocket? And if "...good money [was spent] to keep it hidden.", then how was it discovered at all? Maybe if you posted links to this evidence you have, the proper authorities could be notified.
No, wait. You'd rather poke fun at screen names and foam at the mouth. Never mind.

Because you don't like my username because it has the word "acorn" in it??? Which has absolutely nothing to do with ACORN???

Are you equally angry at oak trees???

Oh...and do you also think that anyone who uses the words "strategic" or "allied" or even "consulting" in THEIR user/business name bears some sort of allegiance to Strategic Allied Consulting? You know that name, I'm sure...the latest Republican voter fraudsters.

Is the market value of your home worth less than your mortgage? How much market value have home owners lost since 2007? Trillions of $$$$.

Let's talk about republican entitlements that have literally destroyed jobs,economies and retirement plans. And made owning a home a risky investment - now that is remarkable.

DC republican entitlements have been successful at wrecking our economy big time twice in the past thirty years. Because of the pattern I am convinced it is their economic policy established under the direction of Reagan/Bush.

Bush/Cheney accomplished a remarkable achievement by destroying the world economy which of course makes it difficult for the USA to bounce back quickly. The question becomes how in the world did they sucker financial institutions worldwide into buying bundles upon bundles upon bundles of bad USA home loans worth trillions of dollars in bad debt?

What an incredible and criminally insane economic policy? I don't believe the entire world can afford the economically reckless new republican party that was born in 1980.

Again let's talk about republican entitlements that literally destroyed jobs,economies,retirement plans. Again making owning a home a risky investment - again this is remarkable.

--- This ENTITLEMENT - Bailing out The Reagan/Bush Savings and Loan Heist aka home loan scandal sent the economy out the window costing taxpayers many many $$ trillions (Cost taxpayers $1.4 trillion), Plus millions of jobs, loss of retirement plans and loss of medical insurance.
http://rationalrevolution0.tripod.com/war/bush_family_and_the_s.htm

--- This ENTITLEMENT Bailing out the Bush/Cheney Home Loan Wall Street Bank Fraud cost consumers $ trillions, millions of jobs, loss of retirement plans and loss of medical insurance. Exactly like the Reagan/Bush home loan scam. Déjà vu can we say. Yep seems to be a pattern.
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0709macewan.html

Americans have been begging government for things since day one. Republicans want government to do things for them just as much as Democrats do. Maybe sometimes different things...but they still want. those things.

You sound like so many other complainers who don't actually have a clue what a socialist government is.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

--- we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global protection for Wal-Mart,Oil,Coca Cola,Pepsico,diamonds,gold etc etc etc

--- we need to strengthen our ties to dictator regimes friendly to American interests and Bogus values;

--- we need to promote the cause of the political right wing and economic rape for corp USA abroad;

--- we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in forcing others to accept our corrupt principles.

Such a reckless policy of military strength and immoral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the extortions of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness no matter how many innocent USA soldiers die.

About socialism that which has been prominent in the USA more years than I am old. We know it as corporate subsidies aka tax dollar moochin...

Shocked Shocked To Find Socialism in Ameirca

East Otis, Mass. - The less some Americans know, the more strident and voluble they become. Take socialism. The wailing about it over healthcare reform proves my proposition.

Shrill critics menacingly brandish "socialism" to terrify the unthinking, forgetting – or willfully ignoring – that while the United States is capitalist, it's also hip deep in various modes of socialism.

Republicans apparently don't know that it was their beloved President Theodore Roosevelt who in 1912 proposed national health insurance for all.

Some American critics of socialized medicine cite nightmarish accounts of bungled medical treatment abroad, boasting that America has the best medical system in the world.

As a foreign correspondent, I lived in Britain, Germany, Israel, and the Soviet Union and did not discover any sapping of a nation's vital essences because the public enjoyed publicly funded national health insurance.

As a US citizen who lived more than two decades abroad, I found socialized national health insurance programs are often more compassionate and charitable than what I have seen with profit-driven, private insurance companies in the United States.

Some years ago my former wife took my sons on a driving tour of Britain and became involved in an accident. My elder son had a badly broken leg and was taken to a hospital for six weeks until his leg healed. Although I didn't live in Britain at the time, the British National Insurance system paid all his hospital and doctor bills. When I offered to reimburse the hospital, the British charitably declined and only charged me $35 for a crutch my son used to hobble aboard a plane home to America.

A decade ago, a federal report shocked the nation by suggesting that our modern medical system was one of the leading causes of death in America. It called for cutting the rates of medical mistakes in half within five years. But it's only gotten worse. Today, preventable medical injuries kill some 200,000 Americans each year.

Those coming to the US for medical care are seeking the best life saving treatment in the world (oncology, cardiology). Those Americans seeking medical care outside the US are looking primarily for cheap plastic surgery. Big difference.

Haiku, It's unfortunate that a lot of people go overseas for treatment. If I recall the information correctly, U.S, citizens go overseas because it's more affordable. The foreign visitors seeking medical treatment in the U.S. are affluent. A sad state of affairs.

Indeed. Air America's been gone for what now, 3 years?
So Dolph must mean NPR?

How pathetic that hearing nuanced reporting on world events without any polemical tone requires these fragile worldviews to paranoidly assume that it's all a leftist conspiracy. And this from a man who runs a friggin' newspaper, no less.

Enough with the talking points, Lakshmi Singh! Dolph's weary mind will have no more of your socialist tripe. Back goes the dial to good ol' Rush...

LOL. This from the guy whose posts are often removed for violations--and didn't you have previous incarnations totally banned?
Dolph is pretty much inviting us to mock his ridiculous musings. If I really bit the hand, I'd see those posts disappear. Plus, there's absolutely nothing special about this forum. Even if the LJW was sold or folded, some other digital watercooler would emerge, and probably something with higher standards. Meanwhile, you make this place feel like the foulest men's stall at an interstate rest stop.

Thank you for sharing with your readers that you get your ideas from talk radio. That says volumes . I'm reminded of the Katie Couric interview of Sarah Palin in 2008, when she asked her "what newspapers do you read".

oh birthers.....why don't you listen to 88.1 or 92.3 fm today for your eagle forum live
or your phyllis schafley or your jay sekulow or any other bit of your churchlican
fascist nonsense....guess what you've been studied especially if you listen to this
nonsense. I love hearing all of the crazy conservative banter from the people calling
in when I work on saturdays and have to hear this nonsense. I must say crazy is
entertaining in a driving up on an accident kind of way. I hope to hear sageonpage
call into phyllis schafley some day......how entertaining....

It's nice that they're planning for such a remote contingency. Meanwhile, the hate-consumed curmudgeons throughout flyover country will probably just skip the hotline and pull the trigger, so no need for more counselors there. If anything, we'll just need heightened vigilance against the Tim McVeigh-types who would rather take a few hundred innocent Americans down with them...

There were many protests, riots, and several attacks on or shortly after 9-11-12. Some were a direct response to the film. US intelligence has revised its assesment on the Lybian embassy attack as more information is becoming available.

Here is what President Obama said the next day:

President Barack Obama, in September 12 remarks about the tragedy, vowed that "no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation." ---- Yahoo News

So in my opinion, I do not believe that the President or US intelligence lied ot attempted to mislead the public. Fox News, Romney and others just might be trying to capitalize on this tragic event for political purposes.

The dolphster as well as the rest of the right wing only want to exploit the deaths of 4 Americans for their sicko political posturing and couldn't care less about the lives that were lost. They couldn't care less about what Obama did or didn't do. They only are doing what they always do, political posturing and lying. Romney lies about 27 percent of the times his mouth moves and sound comes out. You can easily see that he will continue this if he were president. How many wars will he lie us into. How many catastrophes will he lie us into and them blame them on the next president. Sorry Dolph, no one more scary than you.

"In a memo released along with the ad, the Romney campaign says the change "undermines the very premise of welfare reform. It is an insult to Americans on welfare who are looking for an opportunity to build better lives for themselves. And it is a kick in the gut to the millions of hard-working middle-class taxpayers struggling in today’s economy, working more for less but always preferring self-sufficiency to a government handout."

Obama, it says, "hopes states will consider approaches that remove work participation rate requirements all together."

The HHS letter contains no such language. In several places, it says only proposals from states that "improve employment outcomes" will be considered."

This option has existed and used since 1996. I would post more, but my ipad does not have much of a buffer for copying text. See www.politifact.org. You will find all political ads researched. Some fault Obama. Have fun with that.

If the owner of a newspaper is going to call a sitting president a liar -- a pretty bold statement that gives courage to our national enemies -- the least he can do is support it with some evidence, perhaps even some investigative reporting. Without proof, Dolph C. Simons, jr. is proving himself yet again to be nothing but a wealthy political hack who happens to own a newspaper.

Reading national newspapers, listening to the radio and watching television, this writer can sense the panic starting to build among Republicans. Honestly, what did they expect -- they nominated Mitt Romney, someone their own party could barely stomach! Why do you think people like Cain, Bacchman, Gingrich, Perry, and Santorum were actually considered front runners for a time. Even Republicans don't like Romney, so why should the rest of the country? Romney was just the apparent best among a really bad lot of candidates, but just nominating him won't turn him into a likable nominee.

I recommend Republicans start thinking about who they will run against Hillary in 2016, because this election is nearly over except for the four more years of whining and continued false statements.

"The former president claimed Obama had inherited a terrible situation when he moved into the White House ..."

One more note -- is Dolph trying to suggest that Obama's inheriting of a terrible situation is only a "claim" and that it isn't an actual fact? Wow, even for Dolph that is a bold attempt at partisan journalism.

Oh yeah, she was that former VP candidate not even invited to the RNC convention.

And "hag"? Nice to see your misogyny in full form. Now, aren't you the guy just yesterday telling us all about how wonderful it is having Jesus in your life? Would Jesus smile on you for calling a woman a "hag"?

Polling is a very sophisticated science, however I think the polls influence voters too much, and the polls cause campaigns to say what the voters want to hear. We cannot believe anything. It's all about manipulating the emotions of the voters. This whole campaign has become a game to win at alll costs. Polling should be conducted as research but not released until after the election.

It absolutely disgusts me that conservatives will attempt to use American deaths for political gain.

This is the party that wrapped itself in the 9/11 flag, but cut funding to first-responders.

This is the party that beats its chest and crows about our military, and yet will anonymously prevent a veterans' jobs bill from even going to a floor vote.

This is the party that used fear of terrorism to ram through every pork-barrel project from every podunk nowhere congressional district (as long as it was Republican), and yet scream to high heaven that the President is somehow "politicizing" things when he talks about giving the order to take out Bin Laden.

This is the party that goes on a crusade against "voter fraud", but the only fraud that's been occurring has been committed by GOP operatives (check the news from Florida, kids).

This is a party of scared, superstitious, weak, frightened older white people, terrified that the world is changing around them -- and who will be demographically irrelevant within the next decade or so.

"The consequences of this election could be enormous, either for good or bad, depending on who wins."

I laugh whenever I read something like this. The president of the last 4 years was horribly unprepared for the job and has turned-out to be fairly inept at politics. The Congress of the last two years has been controlled by people with the singular talent of being completely incapable of actually governing the United States on even the most simple and routine tasks. Despite a proliferation of ineptitude:

A war has been concluded, the world's most infamous terrorist is dead and several top members of the most dangerous global terrorist organization have also been killed, the US economy is growing again, the stock market has rebounded, the unemployment rate has gone from rising dramatically to slowly declining, and the US housing market which played a large role in initiating the crisis has started to grow again.

There will be consequences no matter who wins the election, but they will not be enormous. If the current group could not have messed-up the nation enormously, I'm not sure anyone could.

Shut up!! This is the most important election EVAR!1! Just like last election was the most import election evar!1! Just like the one before it was the Most Important Election Evar!1! Just like the one before It was . . . . .

"It is frightening to see a president not shooting straight with the nation and, apparently, a large percentage of the public saying it is OK or that it isn’t that important."

If this video never existed (which would not be a bad thing), the opposition could have, and would have capitalized on this tragic event regardless. Remember, anything bad that happens is good news for the other side of the aisle. And because, the video actually did contribute to many riots and other violent demonstrations is evidence that the flick was not some invented conspiracy to deflect blame.

Coming to a definitive conclusion or statement as to the causes for this violence takes much longer than 24 hours to determine. Developments are ongoing and new information is coming in. At worst, the initial statements were premature and not handled properly. At best, the administration is continuing its investigation and determing what happened and why.

A follow up on Gareth's and Nightmares' posts. Romney's campaign strategy is to try to preempt the president to improve his own image as a candidate for president. His experience organizing the Olympics really is not comparable to running a country. Obama did not have much experience either. That's a representative democracy for you. My concern is the way Romney's trying to improve his image.

Bobby Jindal manipulated the schedule of visits to Louisiana so that Romney would touch down before Obama.

Romney has been critical of the diplomacy with Israel, Palestine, and Iran. His stated policies are old school. He has done nothing to suggest that his policies would apply to the current situation.

I don't recall a candidate for president speaking at the U.N. before. That has to be confusing or amusing to other countries.

Romney's campaign jumped on the Libya tragedy with a political response and no concern for the victims. The campaign has continued to snipe at the White House making it more difficult for the White House to deal with the problem.

Romney's campaign is interfering with our diplomatic relations and possibly national security. He is way out of his league on foreign affairs.

Romney's domestic policies might work, put his foreign relations would be a disaster. Our troops are worn out. We did not follow past practices for relieving them. Many had four tours of active duty on the front lines. Now, we have to take care of their disabilities including post traumatic stress. How many disabled vets have been hiredin Lawrence?

That's not even going into the disaster of Romney's European trip this summer, where he violated the national security of Great Britain by publicly announcing that he'd met with the head of MI6 (Such meetings are always confidential and considered state secrets, by law in the UK).

The man is a bloody incompetent. The rest of the world knows it.

Come November, more than half the US will demonstrate that we know it as well.

Let the conservatives like Dolph whine and complain all they want -- Kansas will go for Romney.

But I charge them right now to take this pledge: when Romney loses, you'll knock off the ridiculous hyperbolic paranoid criticism of the Obama, shut the hell up and acknowledge that he's been legitimately elected -- so we can all get on with the business of solving the problems that need solving.

A poor effort, even by Dolph's diminishing standards. The embarrassing reasoning and intellectual sloth reminds me more than anything of a poor junior high schooler's "essay". The image of Dolph cruising the nation's byways all hopped up on AM hate radio and the paranoid ramblings of the like-minded conspiracy nuts is pretty revealing, however. It's no wonder his weekly offerings are such addled messes.

"Simons speaks for roughly half of Americans. This administration is dreadful."

No, this is the mistake that the ideologues of each side make, time and time and time again, that the public at large drifting towards one side or the other means that same public actually buys the meaningless talking points and rhetoric of the side in question. But to believe that, you half to believe that half the population is almost schizophrenic, because they seem to continuously forget that they believe that stuff, and swing the other direction, only 2 or 4, 6 or 8 years later. So why would the public soundly reject right-wing talking points in 2008, and utterly embrace them in 2010? Because they were manipulated by the media? Because they're finally seeing the lies of the Left? If that was the case, why did they reject the left wing talk points in 2004, then embrace them in 2006 and again in 2008?

It's because your ideology has Nothing To Do With It!!! Every election you're saying the same thing, thinking the same thing, and your quarter or so of the population continues to believe, and will continue to believe, regardless of outcome, same with that other quarter or so on the other side. But that other 50% or so will simply either punish or reward the party in charge, based on how they feel things are going, what they think might happen moving forward, compared to the other option offered, and how they think it stacks up. Their opinions may differ, yours never will. But just because they're voting the same as yourself, every once in a while, does not mean that you, or Mr. Simons, or Palin or Hannity or Rush or Olberman or Franklin or whoever else, speaks for such large tracts of people.

I think well of Mr. Romney and don't doubt that he's got a more seasoned management background than President Obama. My problem is that he's at the helm of the wrong party. I dread the thought of the GOP controlling Congress and the Executive Branch. They're just as bad as the Democrats at giving government favors to their backers, plus they are driven by elements whose social views are, in my opinion, backwards. They care more about females who are unborn than those who are alive at present. I don't believe that Romney personally has those views, but he hasn't shown the backbone to take a moderate course that would attract voters like myself and that is not encouraging.

Another Border Patrol agent was murdered last night on what the current regime has called our safe and secure border with Mexico. It is likely that he was killed with a firearm that Holder's DOJ provided to the drug cartels. Want that to continue? Then vote for the Mope.